Westwood joins the fitness route to success

There may have been times when the European Tour has crept in almost unnoticed on its far-flung travels early in the year but this is not one of them. A genuine sense of anticipation accompanies the opening of the new season. The Ryder Cup has something to do with it, of course, but the big week is not until September and there are plenty with plenty to prove well before then.

Darren Clarke has already shown the way by finishing third in the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii last week. The event, won by Stuart Appleby, was only for those who won on the US Tour last year and, remarkably, Tiger Woods was the only American in the top five.

More importantly for the Irishman, his no-beer, no-smoking policy looks to be paying off. He may be half the man he was, but his fitness campaign should see him challenge Padraig Harrington as Europe's leading representative on the world rankings.

Harrington has already won the first event on the new European schedule - in Hong Kong last December - but others are keen to get cracking at the South African Open today. Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter are among those lining up alongside the defending champion, Trevor Immelman, at Somerset West.

Then in two weeks time, the Johnnie Walker Classic regains some of its old lustre with a star-studded line-up led by the defending champion, Ernie Els, last year's European Order of Merit winner.

Do not let anyone fool you. Collecting Ryder Cup points to qualify for the match in Detroit is definitely the name of the game but there are other reasons for players to test themselves early in the year.

Montgomerie, a Ryder Cup hero less than 18 months ago, wants to recover from his worst season for over a decade. Westwood, looking to slim down like Clarke but also working hard on his short game, is hoping to build on last autumn's encouraging renaissance.

"I am not trying to shift as much weight as Darren has lost," Westwood said. "But I wanted to tone up a little bit and I have come out this year a little bit fitter than I have been.

"I also went to see David Leadbetter for three days and did a lot of work there. I probably hit about 2,000 balls. It was building on what we had done last year and introducing a few other things that we are going to work on this year."

Rose will want to add to the four wins he achieved in 2002 after a blank return last year, while Poulter, having established himself in the world's top 50, will be as excitable as his haircuts at playing in all the majors and world championship events for the first time.

Rose and Poulter, who with the help of the friendly exchange rate reportedly bought a house at Lake Nona in Orlando while practising there last week, will be among those hoping to qualify for the Ryder Cup team for the first time, as will Paul Casey and the impressive Swede Freddie Jacobson.

One complication this year is that there are two qualifying tables with five qualifiers each. Both run for a calendar year up to the end of August, one accumulating world rankings points from any tournament, the other prize money in European tour events. The likes of Harrington, Clarke, Westwood and Sergio Garcia should qualify one way or the other, leaving the captain, Bernhard Langer, plenty of room to manoeuvre with his two wild card picks.

Montgomerie is making much of his early start to the season but it is mainly a factor of not qualifying for some of the mega-bucks end-of-year events. In any case, the years of him not starting until Dubai in March and still winning the Order of Merit were always the exception rather than the rule.

A year ago, the 40-year-old Scot made a shambles of his start to the season and never seemed to recover. He suddenly switched to clubs with which he was unfamiliar, blades rather than cavity backs, and seemed to be making up his schedule as he went along. Several missed cuts in a row in the United States dented his confidence to such an extent that he failed to win in Europe for the first time since 1992.

Montgomerie has changed clubs again but took the precaution of practising with them in Dubai over Christmas. That he was not lazing around in Barbados as usual suggested that he is serious about playing himself into the Ryder Cup team rather than relying on Langer picking him.

"I really want to make it into the Ryder Cup team on my own merit," he said. "I have been working, and will continue to work, very hard to ensure that this is the case."

Inevitably, there is a new caddie and Monty remains the most exasperatingly idiosyncratic character. His recent revelation that his last activity on the practice green prior to teeing off is deliberately to miss three six-footers in a row - on the law of averages that they will then go in on the course - really takes the biscuit. Why didn't Tiger think of that?

EUROPEAN TOUR SCHEDULE

January: 15-18: South African Airways Open (Western Cape). 22-25: Dunhill Championship (Johannesburg). 29-1 February: Johnnie Walker Classic (Bangkok).

February: 5-8: Heineken Classic (Melbourne). 12-15: ANZ Championship (Port Stevens, NSW). 19-22: Carlsberg Malaysian Open (Kuala Lumpur). 25-29: WGC-Accenture Match Play (Carlsbad, Calif).

March: 4-7: Dubai Desert Classic (Emirates GC). 11-14: Qatar Masters (Doha). 18-21: Caltex Masters (Singapore). 25-28: Madeira Island Open (Santo da Serra).

April: 1-4: Algarve Open de Portugal (venue tba). 8-11: The Masters (Augusta, US). 15-18: Tournament tba. 22-25: Canarias Open de Espana (venue tba). 29-2 May: Telecom Italia Open (Milan).

May: 6-9: The British Masters (Forest of Arden). 13-16: BMW Asian Open (Shanghai). 20-23: Deutsche Bank Open (Heidelberg, Ger). 27-30: Volvo PGA Championship (Wentworth).

June: 3-6: The Celtic Manor Wales Open (Newport). 10-13: Diageo Championship (Gleneagles, Perthshire). 17-20: US Open (Shinnecock Hills, NY). 17-20: Aa St Omer Open (Lumbres, Fr). 24-27: Open de France (Paris).

July: 1-4: Smurfit European Open (The K Club, Dublin). 8-11: The Barclays Scottish Open (Loch Lomond). 15-18: 133rd Open Championship (Royal Troon). 22-25: Nissan Irish Open (Drogheda, Co Lough). 29-1 August: Scandinavian Masters (Malmo)

August: 5-8: KLM Open (venue tba, Neth). 12-15: US PGA Championship (Whistling Straits, Wisconsin). 12-15: BMW Russian Open (Moscow). 19-22: WGC-NEC Invitational (Akron, Ohio). 26-29: BMW International Open (Munich).

September: 2-5: Omega European Masters (Crans-sur-Sierre). 9-12: Linde German Masters (Cologne). 17-19: The Ryder Cup (Oakland Hills, Michigan). 23-26: Tournament tba. 30-3 October: WGC-American Express Championship (Mount Juliet, Co Kilkenny).

October: 7-10: Dunhill Links Championship (St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns). 14-17: HSBC World Match Play Championship (Wentworth). 14-17: Turespana Mallorca Classic (Pula GC, Majorca). 21-24: Tournament tba. 28-31: Volvo Masters Andalucia (Valderrama).

November: 18-21: WGC-World Cup (Seville).